Child safety seat

ABSTRACT

A safety restraint device for a child for use with a vehicle seat and the conventionally installed safety belt including a body having bottom, rear and sidewalls, a plurality of straps connected to the body and adapted to be releasably secured about a child, and at least two spaced apart connecting devices for releasably securing the body to the vehicle seat through the safety belt, the connecting devices including a pair of D-shaped rings which are pivotally mounted in a sleeve that is fixedly mounted to the body and a strap end securing device mounted on the body for supporting the free end of the lap strap after it is engaged with the D-rings to aid in preventing disengagement between the rings and straps.

United States Patent [1 1 [111 3,709,558

Jakob 1 Jan. 9, 1973 [54] CHILD SAFETY SEAT Primary Examiner-Francis K.Zugel h 0 k ,C If. [75] Inventor Hans Jakob,S erman a s an Att0mey C. A.Mlketta et a1. [73] Assignee: American Safety Equipment Corporation,Encino, Calif. [57] ABSTRACT Filed? 1971 A safety restraint device for achild for use with a 21 A LN 188 855 vehicle seat and the conventionallyinstalled safety 1 pp 0 belt including a body having bottom, rear andsidewalls, a plurality of straps connected to the body [52] U.S. Cl..297/250, 297/389 and adapted to be releasably secured about a child,

Int. Cland at least two spaced apart connecting devices far Field ofSearch 253, 339, 255, releasably securing the body to the vehicle seat297/256 through the safety belt, the connecting devices including a pairof D-shaped rings which are pivotally References Cited mounted in asleeve that is fixedly mounted to the body and a strap end securingdevice mounted on the UNITED STATES PATENTS body for supporting the freeend of the lap strap after 2,875,816 3/1959 Langefeld ..297/254 X it isengaged with the D-rings to aid in preventing dis- 3,325,2l3 6/1967 Levy..297/25O engagement between the rings and straps,

3,512,830 5/1970 Norman ..297/250 3,596,986 8/1971 Ragsdale ..297/250 8Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CHILD SAFETY SEAT BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ARTThere has been and presently is a recognition that adequate safetyprotection must be provided for infants or children in automobilesthrough a system which is separate from the safety restraint systemsthat are generally installed for the protection of adults. Many safetyrestraint systems for children comprise a separate seat which can bereleasably mounted on a conventional bench or bucket type seat andhaving proportions which are particularly adapted to provide a childrestraint system. Such seats are generally provided with a separatesafety restraint system comprising a plurality of straps which securethe child relative to the seat body and additional means for securingthe childs seat to the vehicle frame. It is well recognized thatchildrens seats which are simply hung over the backrest of an automobileseat are unsatisfactory since the childs seat may become unmountedduring impact allowing the child and seat to be thrown forwardlyresulting in a dangerous second collision that can do substantial injuryto the child. Since a child's seat cannot be conveniently permanentlymounted to the vehicle seat, there is a problem in providing suitablemeans for securing the childs seat not merely to the automobile seatwhich may also become unmounted in a collision but to the frame of thevehicle.

It will be apparent that the most suitable system for restraining thechild would employ the conventionally installed adult safety belt tosecure the childs seat relative to the vehicle frame rather than to thevehicle seat. Such securing means must not only provide a positivesecurement to the vehicle frame through the conventional safety belt butmust also be conveniently and quickly attachable to the safety belt topermit selected use of the childs seat to change its location asdesired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the background and prior artdiscussed above, it is a general object of the present invention toprovide a childs safety restraining system which includes a separatechilds seat that may be quickly and easily secured through theconventional safety belt installed in automobiles to the vehicle frame.It is another object of the invention to provide a childs seat for asafety restraint system as described which requires no modification ofthe conventional safety straps in the vehicle in order to be operativeand which may be simply connected or disconnected for selective use. Yetanother object is to provide a childs seat which will permit the seat tobe laterally positioned at various locations relative to the automobileseat while utilizing the conventional safety belt strap to secure thechilds seat to the frame without any modification thereof. It is stillanother object of the present invention to provide a child 's seat inwhich the connecting means is inexpensive, reliable, and which requireslittle or no maintenance during its useful life. Another importantobject of this invention is to provide a securing means for a child seatwhich will withstand various collision conditions such as frontalcollisions, rear end collisions, side impacts as well as roll overs;many prior art seats provide good protection during frontal or rear endcollisions, but are poorly designed to protect a child from side impactsdue to resulting heavy rocking motion of the child safety seat.

Generally, the present invention comprises a safety restraint system fora child for use with a vehicle seat and a conventional safety beltrestraint assembly including two separate lap straps anchored at theirends at spaced apart locations, the system comprising a seat or bodyhaving bottom, rear and sidewalls, safety restraint means connected tothe body and adapted to be releasably secured about a child, and atleast two spaced apart connecting means for releasably securing the bodyto the vehicle seat through the lap strap, each of such means includinga pair of D-shaped rings mounted in elongated generally cylindricalsleeves fixedly mounted to the body and receiving the straight portionsof the D-shaped rings for pivotal mounting thereof, and a strap endsecuring device for supporting the free end of the lap strap after it isengaged with the rings to aid in preventing disengagement between therings and straps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of asafety restraint system for a child for use with a vehicle seat and aconventional safety belt restraint assembly showing an exemplaryembodiment of the improvement of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed perspective view of the improvement of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of one of the D-rings;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the other D-ring; and

FIG. 5 is sectional view showing the D-rings and vehicle safety beltengaged.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to thedrawing, there is shown a safety restraint system for a child for use ina conventional vehicle which includes a seat having a seat portion 10and a backrest 11. It will be understood that while a bench type seat isillustrated, the child restraint system of the present invention can beused in conjunction with a bucket type of seat. The vehicle is providedwith a conventional safety belt restraint assembly which includes twoseparate lap straps 12, 13 which have complementary connecting memberssuch as the tongue plate 14 on the lap strap 12 and the buckle 15 on thelap strap 13. The lap straps l2, 13 are anchored behind the seat atspaced apart locations in a manner well known to those skilled in theart.

The child safety restraint system includes a seat or body 20 forsupporting a child in the sitting position and includes a bottom wall21, a rear wall 22, and sidewalls 23, 24. The body may be constructed ormolded from a high strength plastic material and may be provided with alip 25 which extends around the entire peripheral edge of the seat. Asseen in FIG. 1, the bottom wall 21 rests on the seat portion 10 of thevehicle seat and the rear wall 22 abuts the backrest 11 of the vehicleseat.

The childs seat is provided with safety restraint means for the childwhich is adapted to be releasably secured about the child and mayinclude a pair of shoulder or chest straps 30, 31 with suitableadjusting members 32 and lap straps 33, 34 which,'as in the exemplaryembodiment, may be integral with shoulder straps 30, 31. The rear wall22 is provided with openings 35 near the upper end of the rear wallthrough which the upper ends of the shoulder strap 30, 31 may pass. Thesidewalls 23, 24 are provided with a slot, one of which is shown at 36,through which the lap strap 33, 34 may pass. The strap assembly may alsoinclude a crotch strap 37 passing through a slot 38 in the bottom wallof the seat 20. The shoulder, lap and crotch straps are releasablyconnected to secure the child relative to the seat 20 through suitablemeans such as the connector assembly including the plates 39, 40 and thehook shaped buckle 41. The buckle assembly comprising the elements 39,40 and 41 is entirely conventional and well known to those having skillin the art. It will thus be seen that safety restraint means which isconnected to the body 20 is provided for releasably securing a childrelative to the body 20 by proper assembly of the child safety straps toeffect a tensionally operative system. It will be understood that thedescribed safety restraint means for the child is merely exemplary andvarious types of strap assemblies and one or more connectors may beutilized to releasably secure the child relative to the seat or body 20.

The improvement of the present invention relates to means for securingthe seat 20 relative to the vehicle seat and thus restrain the childduring an emergency condition. The improvement requires no modificationsor changes to the conventional safety belt restraint assembly present incommercially available vehicles, such as automobiles, and yet allows thechild seat 20 to be removed from the vehicle and put to other uses or toallow the vehicle seat to be occupied by an adult.

The improvement comprises at least two spaced apart connecting meansindicated generally at 40 and 41 for releasably securing the body 20 tothe vehicle seat through the lap strap 12, 13. In the exemplaryembodiment, the connecting means 40, 41 are secured to the body 20 atthe junction between the sidewalls 23, 24 and the rear wall 22 of thebody. The connecting means are spaced upwardly from the bottom wall 21 asuitable distance to prevent the child seat 20 from rocking forward orsideways which could occur if the connecting means were positioned onlyslightly above the bottom wall 21 and yet is not positioned so high as iwould permit the bottom wall 21 to slide forwardly or sideways relativeto the vehicle seat portion when the child safety restraint means isunder load during a headon collision or side impact. The preciselocation of the connecting means relative to the bottom wall 21 may bedetermined from the proportions of the seat. The connecting means 40, 41are secured to the walls of the seat by suitable fasteners such asrivets as shown at 42 in FIG. 2 or by other conventional means.

Since the connecting means 40, 41 are in all respects identical, it willsuffice to describe the details of only one of such devices such as theconnecting means 40 shown in greater detail in FIG. 2. The connectingmeans 40 includes a pair of D-shaped rings, commonly referred to asD-rings, indicated generally at 45, 46. The D-shaped rings, to bedescribed in greater detail hereinafter, are pivotally mounted withrespect to the seat in a generally cylindrical vertically orientedsleeve 61 formed metal and suitably fixedly mounted with respect to thebody 20. In the exemplary embodiment, the sleeve 61 forms a part of aplate including a sidewall portion 62 and a rear wall portion (notshown) that is attached to the rear wall of the seat 20. It will ofcourse be understood that such sleeve may be separate from the plateattached to the body and secured thereto by welding, fasteners, or othermeans well known in the art. The sleeve 61 is positioned adjacent theintersection of the body sidewall 24 and the rear wall 22.

The connecting means also includes a strap end securing device indicatedgenerally at 65 which in the exemplary embodiment is integral with theside plate portion 62 and comprises a pair of spaced apart tabs 66, 67which may be struck from the plate 62 to define an opening for receivingthe vehicle strap as seen best in FIG. 1. It will be apparent to thosehaving skill in the art that other means may be provided for securingthe vehicle strap after it is passed through the D-rings in the mannerto be hereinafter explained for supporting the free ends of the vehiclelap strap to prevent disengagement between the D-rings and the straps.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the D-ring 45 is shown comprising a straightportion 47 which is received in the sleeve 61 and an arcuate portion 49.Similarly, in FIG. 4, the D-ring 46 is shown comprising the straightportion 48 and an arcuate portion 50. As may be observed from comparingFIGS. 3 and 4 where the D-rings are illustrated with the approximaterelative proportion that the D-ring 46 has a larger lateral dimension,i.e., the dimension measured between the straight portion 48 and thefurthest point on the arcuate portion 50. Such dimensions may bemeasured across the ring perpendicular to the straightportion and itwill be seen that the dimension of the ring 46 is greater than that ofthe ring 45. Proportioning of the rings as described will be seen toprovide an advantageous frictional engagement between the lap strap andthe D-rings when the lap straps are inserted as shown in FIG. 2. Moreparticularly, it will be seen that the larger ring 46 is positionedforwardly of the ring 45 when the seat 20 is in position with its rearwall 22 abutting the vehicle seat backrest 11. The childs seat 20 isreleasably secured by passing the lap strap, such as the strap 12 shownin FIG. 2, forwardly through the D-rings, then around the forward D-ring46, then rearwardly under and around the rearward D-ring 45 and thenforwardly. It will be appreciated that the belt may be wrapped aroundthe rings in the opposite manner by inserting the end of the beltthrough the rings rearwardly, then forwardly around D-ring 45, betweenthe rings, around ring 46 and rearwardly. Non-slip engagement betweenthe belt a and the D-rings is produced byone D-ring pressing against theother. This pressure increases proportionately by increasing tensionforce in the lap strap, which occurs during a collision when the childis loading up the seat. Increasing tension force in the lap strapincreases friction force between the lap strap and the D-rings. Thisfriction force is provided at any position of the D-rings relative tothe child seat by using a forward D-ring 46 which is slightly largerthan the rearward D-ring 45. Under load conditions the forward D- ringhas a tendency to shift towards the child seat body 20 while therearward D-ring has a tendency to shift away from the body 20 due to thegeometry of the D- rings, the pivoting action and the play in the sleeve61, as well as the forces of the lap strap acting against the D-rings,see FIG. 5. This shifting action forces the D- rings to separatesideways and loosens all friction forces. By making one D-ring largerthan the other one, this condition is prevented.

Using the free end of the strap 12, in the position shown in FIG. 2,which has only a minimal engagement area with the D-ring 45, the belt isthen passed forward and is inserted through the opening defined by thetabs 66, 67, so as to support the pressure of the D-rings pressingagainst each other and to pick up additional friction on the exteriorsurface of the belt which is passing about the forward D-ring 46. Thus,the engagement of the belt with the D-rings is increased by theprovision of the strap end securing device indicated generally at 65. Inthis manner, there will be less possibility for the belt to work looserelative to the D-rings and yet the entire connecting means may beeasily disassembled when it is not desired to use the seat.

It will thus be seen that the improvement of the present inventiondescribed in its exemplary form provides connecting means for a childsseat that may be used with the conventional automobile safety restraintlap straps without modification and yet is quickly releasable forremoval of the seat when not in use. Various modifications and changeswill occur to those having skill in the art to the exemplary embodimentof the invention as described without departing from the scope of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A safety restraint device for a child and for use with a vehicle seatand a conventional safety belt restraint assembly including two separatelap straps each carrying complementary releasable connecting means attheir free ends and anchored at their other ends at spaced apartlocations, said device comprising:

a body having bottom, rear and sidewalls;

safety restraint means connected to said body and adapted to bereleasably secured about a child; and at least two spaced apartconnecting means for releasably securing said body to said vehicle seatthrough the lap straps each said means comprising a pair of D-shapedrings, an elongated generally cylindrical sleeve fixedly mounted on saidbody and receiving the straight portions of said D- shaped rings forpivotal mounting of said rings, and a strap end securing device forsupporting the free end of the lap strap after it is engaged with saidrings to aid in preventing disengagement between said rings and strap.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said sleeves are positioned adjacentthe intersection of said body side and rear walls.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein each of said sleeves includes integralplates fixedly mounted on said body and said strap end securing devicesare integral with said plate.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein each of said strap end securing devicescomprises a pair of spaced apart tabs struck from said plate to definean opening for receiving the vehicle strap.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein one of said D- shaped rings has asmaller dimension measured across the ring perpendicular to the straightportion than the other ring.

6. In a child safety restraint system for use in a vehicle having a seatincludin a backrest and a seat portion and at least two safety s rapsanchored in the vehicle behind and below the seat and passing betweenthe backrest and seat portion comprising a seat body having bottom, sideand rear walls for receiving a child therein in sitting position, andstrap restraining means connected to said seat body for restraining thechild against forward movement, the improvement comprising:

connecting means for rapidly and releasably securing the seat body tothe safety straps including a pair of plates fixedly mounted adjacentthe intersections of the body side and rear walls, a pivot sleevemounted on each plate, a pair of D-rings received in each of thesleeves, and a pair of tabs ,struck from each plate and defining anopening for receiving the free end of the safety straps, whereby each ofthe straps may be passed through the D- rings, reversed so as to passover one ring and under the other, and inserted through said tabdefinedopening to secure the seat body against movement relative to the seatand to remain secured during use.

7. The improvement of claim 6 wherein the arcuate portion of one of saidD-rings in each pair is larger than the arcuate portion of the otherD-ring of the pair.

8. The improvement of claim 7 wherein said sleeve is spaced upwardly ofthe body bottom wall and when the seat body is positioned on the vehicleseat with the rear wall of the body against the backrest the straps passforwardly through the D-rings, around the forward ring, rearwardly underand around the rearward ring and then forwardly through the tab-definedopening.

1. A safety restraint device for a child and for use with a vehicle seatand a conventional safety belt restraint assembly including two separatelap straps each carrying complementary releasable connecting means attheir free ends and anchored at their other ends at spaced apartlocations, said device comprising: a body having bottom, rear andsidewalls; safety restraint means connected to said body and adapted tobe releasably secured about a child; and at least two spaced apartconnecting means for releasably securing said body to said vehicle seatthrough the lap straps each said means comprising a pair of D-shapedrings, an elongated generally cylindrical sleeve fixedly mounted on saidbody and receiving the straight portions of said D-shaped rings forpivotal mounting of said rings, and a strap end securing device forsupporting the free end of the lap strap after it is engaged with saidrings to aid in preventing disengagement between said rings and strap.2. The device of claim 1 wherein said sleeves are positioned adjacentthe intersection of said body side and rear walls.
 3. The device ofclaim 2 wherein each of said sleeves includes integral plates fixedlymounted on said body and said strap end securing devices are integralwith said plate.
 4. The device of claim 3 wherein each of said strap endsecuring devices comprises a pair of spaced apart tabs struck from saidplate to define an opening for receiving the vehicle strap.
 5. Thedevice of claim 1 wherein one of said D-shaped rings has a smallerdimension measured across the ring perpendicular to the straight portionthan the other ring.
 6. In a child safety restraint system for use in avehicle having a seat including a backrest and a seat portion and atleast two safety straps anchored in the vehicle behind and below theseat and passing between the backrest and seat portion comprising a seatbody having bottom, side and rear walls for receiving a child therein insitting position, and strap restraining means connected to said seatbody for restraining the child against forward movement, the improvementcomprising: connecting means for rapidly and releasably securing theseat body to the safety straps including a pair of plates fixedlymounted adjacent the intersections of the body side and rear walls, apivot sleeve mounted on each plate, a pair of D-rings received in eachof the sleeves, and a pair of tabs struck from each plate and definingan opening for receiving the free end of the safety straps, whereby eachof the straps may be passed through the D-rings, reversed so as to passover one ring and under the other, and inserted through said tab-definedopening to secure the seat body against movement relative to the seatand to remain secured during use.
 7. The improvement of claim 6 whereinthe arcuate portion of one of said D-rings in each pair is larger thanthe arcuate portion of the other D-ring of the pair.
 8. The improvementof claim 7 wherein said sleeve is spaced upwardly of the body bottomwall and when the seat body is positioned on the vehicle seat with therear wall of the body against the backrest the straps pass forwardlythrough the D-rings, around the forward ring, rearwardly under andaround the rearward ring and then forwardly through the tab-definedopening.